Texan Faces Terrorism Charge After Capture in Syria

HOUSTON (CN) – A Texas man whom U.S. allies captured this month on a battlefield in Syria appeared in federal court Friday to face charges of supporting the Islamic State terrorist group.

Prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Warren Christopher Clark, 34, today following his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate in Houston. If convicted, Clark faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

He is charged with attempting to provide material support to
the Islamic State group, also called ISIS,
from 2011 to October 2015.

In this photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle. (AP Photo, File)

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group that works
with U.S. soldiers, announced
on Jan. 6 that Clark was one of five foreigners they had captured during an
offensive against ISIS in northern Syria, where some of the terrorist
organization’s estimated 30,000 fighters are active in one of the few areas
that remain under its control.

Clark does not fit the typical profile of the dozens of U.S. citizens who have traveled to the Middle
East to join ISIS.

A practicing Muslim since his high school days in the Houston suburb Sugar
Land, Clark graduated from the University of Houston
in 2007 with a political science degree and worked as substitute teacher in the
Houston area before he moved to Saudi Arabia,
where he taught English from 2012 to 2014, the Houston Chronicle reported.

He then taught English in Turkey for four months, according
to a resume he reportedly sent to the terrorist group, along with a cover
letter that opened with the sentence, “I am looking to get a position
teaching English to students in the Islamic State.”

Clark used his adopted Muslim name Abu Muhammed al-Ameriki
in the letter, which was found in a house in Iraq
once held by ISIS fighters and given to scholars in George Washington
University’s Program on
Extremism.

In a Jan. 15 interview
in Syria, Clark, bearded
with a shaved head and using crutches, told NBC News that he never fought for ISIS and he had been injured in a personal fight.

He said he joined ISIS
because he wanted to see “what the group was about and what they were
doing” and that the videos the group posted online of their fighters
beheading people did not dissuade him from making the journey.

“Yes of course I saw the videos, you know,” he
told NBC. “You know, I think, you know, with the beheadings, OK that’s
execution. You know I’m from the United States,
from Texas,
they like to execute people too.”

U.S. law
enforcement brought Clark back to Houston from Syria on
Thursday, Houston U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick said in a statement.

Though prosecutors filed Clark’s indictment in Galveston federal court, he appeared Friday in a
wheelchair at the Houston
federal courthouse before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray.

After Bray asked Clark if he understood the charges, Clark told the magistrate judge he had a question, the
Chronicle reported.

“Before I had spoken to MSNBC and the FBI, I was very
lost. I was . . .,” he said, before Bray cut him off.

Bray said, “You understand you have the right to remain
silent? For example, what you did right now? Don’t do that.”

A federal prosecutor said Clark
should not be released from custody because he is a flight risk. Bray declined
to release Clark on bond, but set a detention
hearing for Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.

Clark was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s
Service and transported to a federal prison an hour north of Houston.

His attorney Mike DeGeurin gave the press a preview of the
arguments he will make at Clark’s detention
hearing.

“He is a very polite, articulate, well-educated person
and we are seeking that he be released to the custody of his family,”
DeGeurin told the Chronicle.